In response to the developing COVID-19 crisis, the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua planning team has decided to postpone the opening of registration for the nineteenth annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua to May 15th at 6:30am PDT. We are also tentatively planning to release the full 2020 program schedule and grid schedule on May 1—two weeks before registration opens.

Bird Chautauqua registration will begin at 6:30am PDT on May 15, 2020.Photo by Sandra Noll.

Depending on how the news unfolds and state and federal guidelines change in the weeks ahead, it is possible that we may have to cancel this year’s festival, and if that’s the case, we will make that announcement before registration begins. We care deeply about our staff, presenters, participants, and our community, so we will be basing our decisions about the festival on safety first. Stay well and happy birding.

Join the Mono Lake Committee digitally as we share arriving birds, springtime flowers, and scenic views of the Mono Basin with you from wherever you may be. Over the next few weeks, you can bring Mono Lake into your living room and enjoy some moments of peace and tranquility from the Mono Basin during these uncertain times.

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Tickets for the Mono Lake Committee’s ninth annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles are now on sale!

We hope you’ll be able to join us in March in either Sierra Madre, Santa Monica, or at our newest venue in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets are $20 for general admission ($25 at the door) and half-price for students. You can save 20% on tickets through February using promo code WILD20. You can also purchase a benefactor ticket, which allows you to sponsor one student’s five-day visit to the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center (along with (more…)

In 2019, Mono Lake an entire vertical foot. Watch below for a quick time lapse video showing the this past summer’s lake rise and see the shoreline change by the day.

It has been an exciting year for Mono Lake and its tributary streams with the lake rising a foot and the best possible streamflows secured on Rush, Lee Vining, Parker, and Walker creeks.

We hope you’ll consider sending a year-end gift today to help the Committee prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead in 2020. The protection and restoration of Mono Lake is ongoing; we’re grateful that your support is, too. Thank you.

The Mono Lake Committee is excited to announce our ninth annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Los Angeles! We will be featuring a series of short, inspiring, and engaging films that showcase amazing people, beautiful places, and unique perspectives.

This year, for the first time, we’ll be hosting the festival on three consecutive nights in the Los Angeles area:

Sierra Madre at the Sierra Madre Playhouse
March 11, 2020
7:00–9:30pm

Santa Monica at the Laemmle Monica Film Center
March 12, 2020
7:00–9:30pm

Downtown Los Angeles at the Downtown Independent
March 13, 2020
7:00–9:30pm

Tickets will be available starting January 8 here. All proceeds benefit the Mono Basin Outdoor Education Center, where urban youth connect to the source of their water through outdoor activities and environmental stewardship. Spread the word and we’ll see you in March!

“Black Friday is often a day when we go out and buy things we don’t really need and give them to people who don’t really want them,” writes Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario. This Black Friday, instead of going to the mall, Patagonia is challenging us to donate to environmental organizations, including the Mono Lake Committee, in the name of friends and loved ones.

Patagonia has committed to match all donations given on Action Works, dollar for dollar, up to $10,000 per donation and $10 million total from November 29 to December 31. (more…)

2019 was an exciting year at Mono Lake—the lake rose more than an entire vertical foot to 6,382.5 feet above sea level!

To celebrate, an anonymous donor has pledged a one-to-one match for all donations given from now through Giving Tuesday (December 3), up to $6,392—the management level for Mono Lake—which means you can double your impact for Mono Lake.

We’ve also put together a time lapse video so you can see this summer’s lake rise before your eyes. After watching, be sure to share the video with (more…)

The Mono Lake Committee online store has a wide selection of books and Mono Lake merchandise, but there are some items we don’t carry that you can probably find on Amazon.

You may be familiar with the Amazon Smile program, which allows you to designate a charitable organization of your choice to receive 0.5% of the price of your eligible Amazon purchases, but did you know you can have ten times the impact by simply following this link before shopping on Amazon? (more…)

It wasn’t long ago when Mono Lake’s unique alkali flies made a splash in the news, and today another iconic Mono Basin animal is making headlines on Science Friday: the California Gull. Beloved by some and unpopular with others, the California Gull is a bird that is sure to generate a reaction—whether it’s of awe of their seasonal migration to inland salt lakes, like Mono, or of irritation because a clever gull once stole your ice cream cone.

Regardless of how you feel about California Gulls, Mono Lake provides a critical nesting habitat for these birds as well as an abundant natural food supply of brine shrimp and alkali flies. In the video posted today on Science Friday’s website, Kristie Nelson, Mono Lake Gull Project manager for Point Blue Conservation Science, discusses her research on this important population of birds at Mono Lake, numbering in the tens of thousands—one of the largest colonies of California Gulls in the world. I hope this video gives you a newfound appreciation for the gulls and Mono Lake.

Registration for the eighteenth annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua (June 14–16, 2019) is now open, and there are more than 75 programs with space available, including field trips, presentations, and workshops.

Lazuli Buntings are one of the birds you could spot at this year’s Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua. Photo by Santiago Escruceria.

This year we’ve added several new trips that still have space, including Birding the Lee Vining Creek Trail, Fire by friction, Wing beats around the basin, and Birding Bohler Canyon after the fire. We’re also offering a “big sit” on Saturday and Sunday morning during which the group will sit in one spot with a variety of habitats and identify all the birds that come through. (more…)